Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Alabama's Morning News. My name is John
Mounts filling in for JT. And likely you're already thinking
about what you're going to get everyone on your list,
and you're probably already thinking how a lot of it
is going to come from Amazon. As the Black Friday
orders begin to flood in, consumers are at risk of
porch piracy. Joining me now is Jean Patrino. He is
the lead Security divisor lead security advisor for security dot org. Gene.
(00:23):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
So you've got some astounding facts here. Thirty seven million
packages are protected to be stolen nationwide. That's I didn't
even realize just that many packages.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, it's crazy. The amount of the amount of package
steps increases every year, and it gets even more during
the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
And a lot of people they've gone to new lengths,
like they have these ring doorbell cameras. They have cameras
to keep up with what's happening in front of their door.
But still there is plenty of people who they're taken
by surprise when their package just never shows up exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You know, the deterrens of how having a ring doorbell
or video. Doorbells or security systems are great, but it
doesn't you know, mean that nothing's going to happen. If
someone wants to get your package, they can be in
and out in seconds, cover their face, and you know
it's very difficult to track them down.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Now, there have been other new concepts they've come up with,
like the idea of you have a garage door opener.
Let's say, if you have a garage door that's you know,
can be hooked up to where uh, your your delivery
person can open your garage door, put the package. They're
closed the garage door, they have a code that lets
them in but hopefully only into the garage and not
into the rest of your house.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Exactly. And a lot of those a lot of those
things are are really good ideas. You know, if the
if the thieves can't see the package, they're not going
to be able to steal the package. So having them
either delivered through like secured lockers like Amazon has lockers
at certain locations, Ups has access points. You can have
a deliver to your work or in those other cases
(01:54):
where you want to you know you're comfortable giving them
a garage code, you can do that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And also there are other there are other means that
you can do this. I know that they make even
boxes that go on your ports that are meant to
look kind of like a like a planter or something
like that, very innocuous, but in reality you have a
little thing in the back to where they can hide
the package in there, that sort of thing. I just
you know, any way you can I guess detour uh
uh these porch pirates? Are there other advice you can
(02:22):
give people to try? And you know, leaks make yourself
lesser of.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Target, yeah, I mean ideally, like I said, if you're
able to be home or scheduled delivered for when you're home,
that's a that's a really good one. Or schedule attempt
be delivered at work if you're able to. You know,
if you have the luxury of being able to have
something delivered at your your job site, that's that's a
really good way to do it. As well. It's very
hard to steal from a from a commercial site as
opposed to a residence, So any of those, any of those,
(02:48):
anything that you can do to make it a little
more difficult is always a good thing. And like I said,
I suggest really if you can have it sent to
your your home. That's the best, the best place when
you're home.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Gen have you seen the these people who have created that.
It's become a whole cottage industry, I guess on uh
online where people have created these these like glitter bombs
where they put them on their porch and they are
hoping if porch pirate comes to try and steal them.
Once they steal the box, they start walking away in
this thing explodes and they make all sorts of noise
and they shoot out glitter and and you know maybe
or you know, a horrible odor, maybe it blows up
(03:20):
in the car, that kind of thing. Have you seen
any of these videos.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
I've seen a lot of the videos. I wonder how
much your AI generated. Theoretically, if you hurt the person
doing that, you that you can be you know, liable
for that as well. So I don't recommend doing that.
It's fun to watch, you know, but but I get
the frustration of consumers going through that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
To do that got it no vigilanteism. But if you
do go through one of these situations, you find yourself
at the receiving end of a porch pirate. What can
you do after the fact. Can you, for example, contact
Amazon ask for a refund, Should you contact the police?
Does it do any good? What's what's your best course
of action? Then?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, you want to do all those things you want to.
You want to contact the delivery service or Amazon. Contact
Amazon if you want to contact or UPS, contact ups
that X, so forth. So you want to notify them
that you did not receive the package and see if
they you know, the package could be misdelivery does happen frequently,
And additionally, you definitely want to call law enforcement. If
you don't call law enforcement, they have no idea the
(04:20):
problem is going on. And the opportunity that they have
is that if they realize a certain area is getting targeted,
they're going to dedicate resources to that area to ensure that,
you know, they can they can keep an eye on
things and hopefully catch people that are doing this.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And this time of year, they're looking out for that
sort of thing because it happens everywhere, and it's it's
becoming a bigger and bigger problem because more and more
people are shopping this way. It used to be Black
Friday was all about everyone had to rush to the
store and buy stuff. Now Black Friday, It's it's pretty
much a goes town because people are already buying their
stuff online have it come to the house instead of
have to fight through the crowds exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I mean, we're talking about over eight billion dollars worth
of online orders that are every year, and like I said,
it really is a huge uptick during the holiday season.
So you definitely want to you definitely want to be careful,
You definitely want to do everything you can to try
to prevent that from happening, like you know, the things
we've already discussed earlier.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Jim Patrina, the lead security advisor for security dot org,
thank you so much for joining us and giving us
at least a few ideas of how we can try
and protect ourselves to keep our packages under the tree.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Thanks Jean, appreciate it.
Welcome back to Alabama's Morning News. My name is John
Mounts filling in for JT. And likely you're already thinking
about what you're going to get everyone on your list,
and you're probably already thinking how a lot of it
is going to come from Amazon. As the Black Friday
orders begin to flood in, consumers are at risk of
porch piracy. Joining me now is Jean Patrino. He is
the lead Security divisor lead security advisor for security dot org. Gene.
(00:23):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
So you've got some astounding facts here. Thirty seven million
packages are protected to be stolen nationwide. That's I didn't
even realize just that many packages.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, it's crazy. The amount of the amount of package
steps increases every year, and it gets even more during
the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
And a lot of people they've gone to new lengths,
like they have these ring doorbell cameras. They have cameras
to keep up with what's happening in front of their door.
But still there is plenty of people who they're taken
by surprise when their package just never shows up exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
You know, the deterrens of how having a ring doorbell
or video. Doorbells or security systems are great, but it
doesn't you know, mean that nothing's going to happen. If
someone wants to get your package, they can be in
and out in seconds, cover their face, and you know
it's very difficult to track them down.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Now, there have been other new concepts they've come up with,
like the idea of you have a garage door opener.
Let's say, if you have a garage door that's you know,
can be hooked up to where uh, your your delivery
person can open your garage door, put the package. They're
closed the garage door, they have a code that lets
them in but hopefully only into the garage and not
into the rest of your house.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Exactly. And a lot of those a lot of those
things are are really good ideas. You know, if the
if the thieves can't see the package, they're not going
to be able to steal the package. So having them
either delivered through like secured lockers like Amazon has lockers
at certain locations, Ups has access points. You can have
a deliver to your work or in those other cases
(01:54):
where you want to you know you're comfortable giving them
a garage code, you can do that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And also there are other there are other means that
you can do this. I know that they make even
boxes that go on your ports that are meant to
look kind of like a like a planter or something
like that, very innocuous, but in reality you have a
little thing in the back to where they can hide
the package in there, that sort of thing. I just
you know, any way you can I guess detour uh
uh these porch pirates? Are there other advice you can
(02:22):
give people to try? And you know, leaks make yourself
lesser of.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Target, yeah, I mean ideally, like I said, if you're
able to be home or scheduled delivered for when you're home,
that's a that's a really good one. Or schedule attempt
be delivered at work if you're able to. You know,
if you have the luxury of being able to have
something delivered at your your job site, that's that's a
really good way to do it. As well. It's very
hard to steal from a from a commercial site as
opposed to a residence, So any of those, any of those,
(02:48):
anything that you can do to make it a little
more difficult is always a good thing. And like I said,
I suggest really if you can have it sent to
your your home. That's the best, the best place when
you're home.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Gen have you seen the these people who have created that.
It's become a whole cottage industry, I guess on uh
online where people have created these these like glitter bombs
where they put them on their porch and they are
hoping if porch pirate comes to try and steal them.
Once they steal the box, they start walking away in
this thing explodes and they make all sorts of noise
and they shoot out glitter and and you know maybe
or you know, a horrible odor, maybe it blows up
(03:20):
in the car, that kind of thing. Have you seen
any of these videos.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
I've seen a lot of the videos. I wonder how
much your AI generated. Theoretically, if you hurt the person
doing that, you that you can be you know, liable
for that as well. So I don't recommend doing that.
It's fun to watch, you know, but but I get
the frustration of consumers going through that.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
To do that got it no vigilanteism. But if you
do go through one of these situations, you find yourself
at the receiving end of a porch pirate. What can
you do after the fact. Can you, for example, contact
Amazon ask for a refund, Should you contact the police?
Does it do any good? What's what's your best course
of action? Then?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, you want to do all those things you want to.
You want to contact the delivery service or Amazon. Contact
Amazon if you want to contact or UPS, contact ups
that X, so forth. So you want to notify them
that you did not receive the package and see if
they you know, the package could be misdelivery does happen frequently,
And additionally, you definitely want to call law enforcement. If
you don't call law enforcement, they have no idea the
(04:20):
problem is going on. And the opportunity that they have
is that if they realize a certain area is getting targeted,
they're going to dedicate resources to that area to ensure that,
you know, they can they can keep an eye on
things and hopefully catch people that are doing this.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And this time of year, they're looking out for that
sort of thing because it happens everywhere, and it's it's
becoming a bigger and bigger problem because more and more
people are shopping this way. It used to be Black
Friday was all about everyone had to rush to the
store and buy stuff. Now Black Friday, It's it's pretty
much a goes town because people are already buying their
stuff online have it come to the house instead of
have to fight through the crowds exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I mean, we're talking about over eight billion dollars worth
of online orders that are every year, and like I said,
it really is a huge uptick during the holiday season.
So you definitely want to you definitely want to be careful,
You definitely want to do everything you can to try
to prevent that from happening, like you know, the things
we've already discussed earlier.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Jim Patrina, the lead security advisor for security dot org,
thank you so much for joining us and giving us
at least a few ideas of how we can try
and protect ourselves to keep our packages under the tree.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Thanks Jean, appreciate it.
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